Charlotte Jollé, Nicole Déglon, Catherine Pythoud, Anne-Karine Bouzier-Sore and Luc Pellerin,
Viral vectors have become very popular to overexpress or downregulate proteins of interest in different cell types. They conveniently allow the precise targeting of well- defined tissue areas, which is particularly useful in complex organs like the brain. In theory, each vector should have its own cell specificity that can be obtained by using different strategies (e.g., using a cell-specific promoter). For the moment, there is few vectors that have been developed to alternatively target, using the same capsid, neurons and astrocytes in the central nervous system. There is even fewer examples of adeno- associated viral vectors able to efficiently transduce cells both in vitro and in vivo.